The guild is "dedicated to the pursuit and recognition of excellence in the arts, sciences and technology of motion picture and televisual post production.
It aims to promote, improve and protect the role of editor as an essential and significant contributor to all screen productions.
Immediate past presidents include Deborah Peart, Dany Cooper, Jason Ballantine, Karen Pearlman, Lindi Harrison and Peter Whitmore.
The ASE has an executive committee based in Sydney (New South Wales) and sub committees in Melbourne (Victoria), Brisbane (Queensland),Perth (Western Australia) and Adelaide (South Australia), who meet monthly to discuss issues and organise events such as talks by industry professionals, technical events and screenings.
The ASE Award itself is called an "Ellie" and resembles a small bronze Elephant with its trunk up and the winning film as a rubber stamp on the bottom.